Hurricane Ike Live Thread IV

NOAA/NHC ^ | 14 September 2008 | NOAA/NHC

[NautiNurse]

The eyewall of Hurricane Ike crossed Galveston Island in the early hours of Saturday morning. Reports indicate as many as 20,000 residents of Galveston Island chose not to evacuate as storm surge engulfed the island. The Freeport Chief of Police reported as many as 2000 residents did not evacuate as flood waters swamped coastal communities. There are widespread reports of power outages and coastal flooding throughout the Texas/Louisiana region. The U.S. Coast Guard received hundreds of calls Friday afternoon to rescue people stranded by flood waters along the barrier islands and Galveston Bay communities.

Multiple fires broke out in the Greater Houston area fueled by strong winds. Fire fighting efforts were hampered by flood waters. Brennan's Restaurant, a landmark in Houston, burned to the ground. A 584-foot freighter crippled in the Gulf of Mexico and its crew of 22 survived the storm after The U.S. Coast Guard was forced to abort rescue efforts Friday afternoon due to foul weather

Gulf Coast wholesale gasoline prices jumped to nearly $5 a gallon over fears that water and wind damage could keep the facilities closed for days or longer. Oil companies had shut down 97.5 percent of production in the Gulf of Mexico by Friday morning and were battening down refineries and petrochemical plants in an area that accounts for one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity.

Exxon Mobil reported evacuating workers from its Gulf Coast offshore platforms and onshore facilities in the anticipated path of Ike, shutting down daily production of about 36,000 barrels of oil and 270 million cubic feet of gas..

Public Advisory Updated every 3 hours

Discussion Updated every 6 hours

Buoy data: Western Gulf of Mexico

Forecast Models

Houston/Galveston Long Range Radar
Corpus Christi Long Range Radar
Brownsville Long Range Radar
Lake Charles Long Range Radar

Ike
Single Image		Image Loop
Lat/Lon	No Lat/Lon	Short	Long
Visible	Visible	Visible	Visible
Shortwave	Shortwave	Shortwave	Shortwave
Water Vapor	Water Vapor	Water Vapor	Water Vapor
Infrared Channel 4 Enhancements
None	None	None	None
AVN	AVN	AVN	AVN
Dvorak	Dvorak	Dvorak	Dvorak
JSL	JSL	JSL	JSL
RGB	RGB	RGB	RGB
Funktop	Funktop	Funktop	Funktop
Rainbow	Rainbow	Rainbow	Rainbow

Additional Resources:

Navy Tropical Cyclone
Storm Pulse Very cool site

KHOU Houston
ABC 13 News Houston
FOX News Houston

KPLC Lake Charles
KFDM 6 Beaumont/Port Arthur
KKBMT 12 Beaumont
KRIS-TV Corpus Christi
KZTV Corpus Christi

Brazoria County Emergency Management
Galveston County Emergency Management
Chambers Country Emergency Management
Liberty County Emergency Management

Category	Wind Speed	Barometric Pressure	Storm Surge	Damage Potential
Tropical Depression	< 39 mph < 34 kts			Minimal
Tropical Storm	39 - 73 mph 34 - 63 kts			Minimal
Hurricane 1 (Weak)	74 - 95 mph 64 - 82 kts	28.94" or more 980.02 mb or more	4.0' - 5.0' 1.2 m - 1.5 m	Minimal damage to vegetation
Hurricane 2 (Moderate)	96 - 110 mph 83 - 95 kts	28.50" - 28.93" 965.12 mb - 979.68 mb	6.0' - 8.0' 1.8 m - 2.4 m	Moderate damage to houses
Hurricane 3 (Strong)	111 - 130 mph 96 - 112 kts	27.91" - 28.49" 945.14 mb - 964.78 mb	9.0' - 12.0' 2.7 m - 3.7 m	Extensive damage to small buildings
Hurricane 4 (Very strong)	131 - 155 mph 113 - 135 kts	27.17" - 27.90" 920.08 mb - 944.80 mb	13.0' - 18.0' 3.9 m - 5.5 m	Extreme structural damage
Hurricane 5 (Devastating)	Greater than 155 mph Greater than 135 kts	Less than 27.17" Less than 920.08 mb	Greater than 18.0' Greater than 5.5m	Catastrophic building failures possible

Previous Threads:
Hurricane Ike Live Thread III
Hurricane Ike Live Thread II
Hurricane Ike Live Thread I
TS Hanna, Hurricane Ike & TS Josephine [Other than that, the tropics are calm]
Tropical Storms Hanna, Ike and Josephine, TD Gustav (Other than that, the tropics are calm)

[CindyDawg]

Maybe communities should build San Luis bunkers (on their own dime) for after the storm. That way people could get back home near their property but still have a safe place to retreat. They could have rotations where they could be dropped off for awhile during the day to do what they need to do, even if it’s standing on just ground and planning how to rebuild. JAT

[hobson]

I just made it to sw Houston where there's electricity. My neighborhood, Garden Oaks, looks like a war zone. It's an old neighborhood with lots of HUGE trees and many have fallen into houses and streets. We were very fortunate, lots of tree branches fallen but no trees down.

I saw Disaster Recovery trucks staging at Northwest Mall.

[lainie]

This is on the front page of the Orange Leader

I hope people are being careful out there... :shudder:

"Pictures of the Bridge City area show nothing but water and tons of it. Texas Ave. is nothing but water and it has been reported many homes and business have feet of water inside.

Orange has also been reported to have serious flooding. Water was white-capping on MacArthur Drive."

According to Joe Mires, of the Orange Fire Department, there is 2 feet of water at the Central Fire Station and the city of Orange from the Sabine River to the area of 16th Park Streets is now under water. However, Mires said there was "very little destruction from wind damage."

[PleaseNoMore]

Crystal Beach survivors... “One lady reports some are on roofs waiting to be rescued. Some held on until they couldn’t hold on any more.” Sad...

http://www.khou.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=282612

[lainie]

That’s a good idea. I think people have enough of an independent streak that they want to try to fix things, and once they get to their homes & see just how bad it is, will leave again if necessary. They’re boiling with adrenaline and fear, watching rescue vehicles “allowed in” but being kept out. I think you’re right — giving them access but still keeping a shelter available would work. But that, of course, requires lots of manpower and volunteers, and tons of $$$. And, you know.. grown-up style planning ahead of any storms, and we’re not seeing a whole ton of that here. :/

[CindyDawg]

My 6 y/o grandson and I were looking at the gator. He ssked what they were going to do with him. I told him , he would make a good pair of boots. He just shook his head and said “Granny...they need to take him to the zoo”.

[Allegra]

Lest anyone forget, Houston already has a large population of professional victims left over from Katrina.

Oh, brother...I couldn't forget if I wanted to. Certain areas in my part of town have been "Katrinized." Fortunatley, every time I go home, that segment of our population seems to have dwindled some more, at least in my sector. They're probably just pillaging and plundering some other part of town now.

[Abigail Adams]

Rep. Cuthbertson saying a bunch of first responders are without food and water. Asking for donations at Tillman (?) Stadium, if I heard correctly.

[NautiNurse]

Thanks for checking in. Very pleased to know you are safe, and that you have electricity.

[mylife]

The Sabine runs through here, good fishin spot my personal fav. but moccasins are a problem, so I got a 410 shotgun

glad to hear that wind damage was light on the other end of the river

[texasredtop]

Problem is that when they start letting anyone in, there will be looting causing a lot of unneeded stress to the police force that is already working long and hard hours. There will also be injuries to those that are not aware of what the conditions will be like when they get home. They probably hear what they are but don’t realize it until they get there. In other words, some of it is lack of experience of the property owners and that is where the dangers lie.

[PleaseNoMore]

How do you go about donating to the first responders?

[Abigail Adams]

...Tully Stadium. There are about 300 first responders that need food and water.

[Allegra]

Thanks! I'm able to view some of those videos. I can see streaming at "home," just not at work. It's nighttime now, so I'm watching...some of this is so sad.

And even though I know Houston is pretty beaten up right now, all this footage makes me a little homesick. ;-)

[Peter Horry]

“At the service debate MCCain said we need to bring private industry into situations like this. HE SAID FEDEX KNOWS MORE ABOUT GETTING GOODS TO THE PEOPLE THAN GUBMINT, And he is right.”

Have to disagree with that. FEMA should be reduced to what it was intended for - assisting in training and the deployment of special purpose teams. This would include biological, Chemical and radiological but could extend to swift water and high altitude rescue but no one can match the military in moving people and equipment over impossible terrain, maintaining supply lines and controlling high density air traffic.

[mylife]

L0L!

[Abigail Adams]

Tully Stadium, bring food and water to the entrance on the side, the side near (name I can’t remember) school.

[Allegra]

Is a “bayou”, as you call it, what we call a natural creek or is it something man-made?

Bayous are natural and similar to creeks, but they tend to have alligators in them. ;-)

(And bayous are slow-moving.)

[mylife]

I beg to differ. WE are the boots on the ground.

Gubmint serves a role and the Coasties and NG are doing a GREAT job but regular folks are the First line of defense

[texasredtop]

LOL :-)

I’m kneeling in the corner.